This is brilliant – muslims in Florida have launched a campaign whereby they run ads on the side of public transport buses, inviting people to call a phone number and talk to a fellow citizen who is muslim. The idea is to foster personal links and engage in one-on-one dialogue between people, not PR teams:

For eight weeks, the Dade and Broward County
transit systems will display colorful banners about Islam on the sides
of 120 local buses. Floridians of all faiths are invited to call
1-888-ISLAM-55 or visit the www.CallingIslam.com website to discover
accurate information about Islam and Muslims.

Even though
we have been speaking out, many of our fellow Americans have not heard
us; now they can. This project creates an avenue for dialogue and
friendship. Through a direct line of communication all Americans will
be able to make an informed decision about Muslims and Islam.

Already
on the second day of the campaign an upset individual, whose call ended
up in my queue, asked why Muslims wanted to dominate the world by
converting everyone to Islam. After a 20-minute discussion we parted as
friends: a Christian and a Muslim who found we had more things in
common than different. Stereotypes were dispelled and the truth was
told.

With all good things come challenges. Not only
will there be success stories but also difficult stories. For example,
the first caller I talked to was so livid about the campaign that his
language was littered with profanity.

We will not change the mind of every caller, but we will create bridges with those interested in exchanging views.

This is the sort of innovation that the chapters of CAIR are great at doing – I have long argued that for all CAIR’s ineptitude at the national level, the state and local chapters do meaningful work. I still think it would be wise for CAIR to compile data on anti-semitic incidents in collaboration with the ADL, but that’s another topic.

(via John Burgess, who has a low opinion of CAIR)

Related reading – my post on Muslim Advocates, a muslim civil rights group that is filling the void left by CAIR’s national leadership. I also discuss potential ideas for reforming CAIR to be more effective.